The $26 million project, which would include a parking deck, hinges on sale of Alpha Building.

Easton Mayor Sal Panto Jr. picked up the poster board rendering of the city's proposed intermodal project and swept his hand across expanses of glass interrupted by stone facades and hung on darkened steel.

The building, unveiled in sharp detail Thursday afternoon, hugs the sidewalk on S. Third Street and hides the bulk and pre-cast concrete guts of the three-deck parking garage and bus terminal slung behind it. The three-story building would house City Hall on its upper two floors.

"We can do good new construction," Panto said of the handsome building.

The plans show City Hall taking up about 30,000 square feet on the two upper floors while the Lehigh and Northampton Transportation Authority and the National High School Hall of Fame would take up two of three commercial spaces on the first floor.

Panto said the one open space may be a good fit for a restaurant or coffee shop.

The $26 million project hinges on the administration's plan to sell the Alpha Building, just a block away from the proposed intermodal, where City Hall inhabits four floors. The city moved into the Alpha Building in 1996 after engineering a deal to save the then-vacant building.

The city bought the Alpha outright in 2001 for $4 million.

Panto said he will present City Council with detailed financial plans for moving City Hall to the intermodal and selling the Alpha. Chris Heagele, city finance director, said the move to City Hall is within the city's means, but he declined to talk further until council sees the numbers.

Armand Greco, LANTA's executive director, said the intermodal has been a long time coming. Greco said he and other LANTA officials first talked about such a center in Easton almost 20 years ago.

"It has been a long-distance race," Greco said.

LANTA brought $7.2 million to the project in exchange for a 99-year lease in the building. The upfront money, and other grants obtained by the city, helped cut the city's portion of the project to $13 million. Panto said the proceeds of the Alpha Building sale would further reduce the city's costs.

Greco said even marathons end with a sprint, and the intermodal project is entering crunch time. The city knocked down a movie theater and a Perkins restaurant on S. Third Street for the intermodal, and those lots are not much more than gravel and asphalt today. Panto said site work must start next month with the foundation of the parking deck in place in June for the project to meet the mayor's timeline.

Panto wants the parking deck and transportation center open by the fall of 2014 and City Hall to move into the office building by the first quarter of 2015. He added that the building will be engineered to reduce energy requirements, pollution and environmental impact. It will also be the first new construction downtown since Larry Holmes built a pair of office buildings in the late 1980s.

"It is time to bring this project to fruition," Panto said.

The administration will bring the final plans before the city's Historic District Committee on Monday and ask City Council for approval Wednesday. Panto hopes to break ground in about two weeks.